Introduction: One Verse, Four Perspectives
In Chapter 16, we arrive at a single verse about which profoundly deep insights were shared, and each of the great commentators opens a different angle upon it: Rabbeinu Yonah, the Vilna Gaon, the Ralbag, and the Malbim. The verse contrasts two types of people: the person whose intellect is the wellspring of his life, and the fool whose every piece of reception and transmission is labeled "mussar" (rebuke or instruction) - yet is utter folly.
מְקוֹר חַיִּים שֵׂכֶל בְּעָלָיו וּמוּסַר אֱוִלִים אִוֶּלֶת׃ (משלי טז, כב) - The intellect is a wellspring of life to its possessor, but the instruction of fools is folly (Mishlei 16:22).
Rabbeinu Yonah: Desire Blinds the Eyes of the Intellect
The phrasing of Rabbeinu Yonah here is wondrous: once a person desires the actions of sin - having already cleaved to sins, coveting them, choosing the love of the wicked or their company, seeking out transgressors and enjoying the fellowship of sinners - "his heart overturns, and his intellect also turns into a destroyer against him." The heart and the mind, the very faculties meant to guide a person straight, turn into forces of ruin against him. Why? Because desire blinds the eyes of the intellect, and craving and coveting supplant discernment. When desire takes over, the mind cannot see; the intellect hangs a sign saying "dragged along." Right now he just wants it - and that is all.
Yet a person is not willing to admit that he is merely driven by lust, so he invents an ideology for himself. One man who betrayed his wife explained: "Look, by nature man was not created to be confined to a single relationship. Originally, even in the Torah, a man could marry multiple wives." Do not call it betrayal, do not speak harshly - it is natural. And where did all this "naturalness" come from? Where did the ideology sprout from? Out of desires and the habit of dwelling in sin, until he is compelled to find a justification. For if not, you are a despicable person: a woman believes in you and trusts you, and you do such things. After all, if she were to do the same, your horns would sprout in rage. But instead, you construct an ideology, and then you are at peace with your actions. What did you gain? That annoying pest inside, which some call conscience - you silenced it. There is already an ideology explaining why I do this.
So too with the thief: "Don't think I am a thief. These are insurance companies, it's a mitzvah to take from them. Let me tell you what they do, your hair will stand on end. It's a mitzvah to take from them, I look for opportunities to squeeze money out of them, and it is completely vetted, you can rest easy about it." He has a lust, he has a craving - and he invents an ideology. This is precisely what Rabbeinu Yonah says: by desiring the practice of transgressions, his heart overturns and his intellect turns into a destroyer against him. You warp the intellect until it becomes an instrument that justifies every sinful deed.
And where does this stem from? Rabbeinu Yonah cites an explicit verse: "For bribery blinds the eyes of the wise." What is the justification to do this? A hundred thousand shekels. A hundred thousand shekels is bribery, and even if you are wise - bribery is capable of blinding your eyes. Notice what "blinding his eyes" really means: after he commits the act, he becomes fully agreeable and identified with his deed, finding justifications for it. The bribe causes your eyes to be blinded from recognizing that you are crooked, that you are doing something dishonest.
Rabbeinu Yonah further adds in the name of Chazal: "A person does not see guilt in himself, and a lover does not see guilt in his beloved." To whom is a person closest? To himself. A person is closest to himself - he might not always side with his wife and children, but he definitely sides with himself. Next, in the second degree of closeness, is his wallet, which is also closer to him than anyone else, and only then his wife and children. Therefore, a person will never see fault in himself: accuse him - immediately he has explanations, ideologies, reasons, and rationales. Where does this come from? The exact same idea: because I love myself, this love acts as a bribe. Would I ever say about myself that I am in the wrong? Naturally, the intellect becomes distorted, and what everyone else clearly sees as crooked, I am incapable of seeing. And what is the bribe? My honor. If I admit that I am wrong, you will look at me as an indecent person. No, I am completely fine, this is how things ought to be, just as you see me - this is the role model to emulate. Every person lives with this feeling, convinced that he is entirely in the right.
"And a lover does not see guilt in his beloved." A story is often recounted of that mother who was told that it is difficult for a mother to see the flaws of her children, and she replied: "I disagree. I think that if my children had flaws - I would certainly see them." What can one do, she has perfect children. We are all perfect, Baruch Hashem; the only reason Hashem created us here is to help others emerge from where they are stuck. There are souls, the holy books write, who came down only to help the generation - we came to help the generation, the generation needs us, while we ourselves, Baruch Hashem, need nothing at all. And from where does all this arise? From coveting the ways of transgression and loving the wicked, whereby one's heart and intellect turn into a destroyer against him.
The Instruction of Fools Is Folly: When a Fool Rebukes His Son
Because of this, says Rabbeinu Yonah, it is stated: "And the instruction of fools is folly." When a friend or a father comes to give mussar to a fool or to his own son, instructing him what to do and what not to do - what kind of mussar will he give? Inevitably corrupt mussar, for in the fool's mind, the distortion has already hardened into an ideology. A son comes home from the army base and says: "Dad, I wasn't allowed off base for two Shabbatot, the commander punished me because I was missing a uniform; someone swiped it from me." The father tells him: "What do you mean they swiped it from you? Why did you keep quiet? Someone took from you - take from someone else!" And who is this man? The very same one who cheats the insurance company. He is a thief, and he spawns a ring of thieves - raising his son to be a thief.
And if you ask him: "Sir, is this justice?" he will reply: "Why on earth should he suffer a loss and sit in military jail for two weeks just because some wicked person stole his uniform? If it was taken from him - that's how it's done, let him take from someone else!" He understands this rationally, and not only does he understand it, he educates his son this way. And if you ask: "Did your son like what was done to him? No. And yet he should do the same to others?" But of course - if it is a mitzvah to steal from an insurance company, from someone on the base it is surely a mitzvah. And there is an added pilpul: with the insurance company, it is insurance money, whereas here it is IDF uniforms, so what did he really steal? It does not belong to him anyway; he stole from the IDF and is returning them to the IDF - where is the theft? With such clever casuistry, the act becomes practically a mitzvah. And so, when the fool offers reproof to his son, the reproof is: "You fool, for this you missed Shabbat at home? Couldn't you have just taken from someone else?"
This is what Rabbeinu Yonah wrote: when fools rebuke their fellows and intend to show them the right path, they teach them to do evil, to become arrogant, to follow the desires of their heart, and to oppress and covet. This is the reproof of fools: "Enjoy yourself, brother, you only live once, enjoy. Take it; don't be overly pious. Grab what you can, you only live once." And lest you say that he knows it is evil and maliciously advises evil, Rabbeinu Yonah explains: no. "Because fools have shut the eyes of their understanding" - they have grown accustomed to following the ways of folly and have blocked the source of their natural intellect (that innate, straight intellect with which man was created, as it says, "God made man upright") through their desires, until their intellect informs them that evil is good. You warp the intellect, and a warped machine produces warped products, yet you remain convinced that this is how things ought to be and that your intellect is directing you toward what is proper.
And this is what is written: "And now we praise the arrogant; those who do wickedness are built up, they test God and escape." Of whom is this speaking? Of the reproof of the fool. He sees someone committing wicked and brazen acts and praises him: "Well done! That really is how it should be. The way he answered him - brilliant! I wouldn't have kept quiet either. If someone talks to you like that, right on the spot unload everything you know on him, teach him a lesson, and watch him turn pale." And he is certain that what he says is correct, and this is the guidance he passes on to his son and his relatives. How did he arrive at this? Through desires and bad habits, until he is convinced that this is the straight and proper path.
The Vilna Gaon: Who Is Your Mashgiach?
The Vilna Gaon explains: intellect is a fountain of life to its possessor, as it is written, "Wisdom preserves the life of its possessor." What is the source of life? Wisdom. The intellect leads a person to choose the good and reject the bad, and it also grants a person insight in the ways of Hashem, as it says, "And David was prudent in all his ways." The intellect that guides its possessor is the fountain of life and is also the source of reproof: it straightens a person and tells him - it is not right to react that way, it is improper to behave like that. But as for the fool, who rebukes him? Folly itself.
To illustrate: the fool pursues the desires of his heart and drowns his sorrow in alcohol. What happens to this person in the end? He suffers from cirrhosis of the liver, loses his money - pure suffering. And what brought this suffering upon him? His own folly. A wise person also experiences "chastisement" in quotation marks, meaning reproof; but the wise person is chastened by his intellect. Before the wise man drowns himself in a large drink, his intellect steps in and tells him: it is not worth touching this, do not start with these things, you know how it begins and you do not know how it ends, and you already drank some yesterday. What delivered the reproof here? His intellect. The fool may also eventually abstain from alcohol - but when? Only after hospitalization and after the doctor's stern warnings: "Sir, you are about to destroy your liver."
It turns out that both receive reproof; the only question is who serves as each one's mashgiach. The mashgiach and moral guide of the wise person is his intellect. The mashgiach and moral guide of the fool is his own foolishness: after he does something foolish and receives a slap in the face, that becomes his reproof. Had he used his intellect, it would have alerted him in advance without him having to endure blows. This is the meaning of "the instruction of fools is folly" - the suffering that befalls fools stems directly from their folly. And as it is written, "Evil pursues sinners": who is pursuing you? Not Hashem. The evil itself pursues the sinner; what you do harms you. Similarly, "for it is a snare to you" - what is "it"? The sin you committed; it itself is the snare that causes your downfall.
Ralbag: The Power of Contemplation in Worldly Life
Ralbag explains that contemplation in every matter is the possessor of the fountain of life and is what guides a person. The power of contemplating every single action one is about to take gives a person life - both physical, bodily life and eternal life. This is something anyone can comprehend rationally, even though today simple, sound logic has become distorted. In material matters: a person who weighs matters carefully on the scales before acting, who reflects and investigates, will succeed. There is no one-hundred-percent guarantee of success, nor is there a one-hundred-percent guarantee of failure for one who does the opposite, but these are the primary causes of success. And in every domain: whether ordering an air conditioner for the home, buying a car, opening a business, or getting married - contemplation of the matter is the key to success.
Today, spontaneity has been turned into a virtue: "What can you tell us about yourself? Spontaneous, personable, and sensitive" - how touching. And what does spontaneous mean? That he jumps right in on impulse. Wait - did you think first whether it makes sense, whether it is worthwhile, whether any benefit will come from it? On the other hand, any extreme is detrimental. One person jumped in excitedly and got married, only to divorce two years later; while in contrast there is the "deliberator": How old are you? Eighty-two. And what is your marital status? Single, because I weigh things properly. When one cautions against being spontaneous, it does not mean going to the opposite extreme and conducting a university research project on every shidduch proposal until it turns out she has already married someone else. Sound logic dictates: do not jump blindly into anything, but on the other hand, weigh it sensibly. If you want to install an air conditioner, you do not just hire the first contractor listed under "A" in the phone book, only to discover later that you fell into the hands of a fraud who gave you substandard equipment. Check what is worthwhile; perhaps there is a more energy-efficient model, or a company running a promotion. In worldly affairs, we all understand that a person who reflects and considers things succeeds far more.
A person who acts without thought and without verification suddenly discovers that he lost money here and suffered a setback there. A woman who had studied in a midrasha once related that her husband had been offered an investment yielding one and a half percent a day. She was told: "One and a half percent a day? Even Madoff in his heyday offered ten percent a month, not one and a half percent a day - no such thing exists anywhere in the world." She said: "But people actually received payouts." She was asked: "Are there guarantees for the money?" She replied: "No, they state upfront that there is no guarantee, but look, someone put in a thousand shekels and by the end of the month gained forty percent." She was told: "There is no such thing; this is fraud, a pyramid scheme, a lie." She said: "But my husband is insistent, and it's only a thousand shekels." She was asked: "Is a thousand shekels pocket change to you?" And she was further advised: "Don't listen to all kinds of rumors; go to a bank, to a teller, ask how much interest they offer - they will speak of one or two percent a month, and then tell him there is an offer of a percent a day and ask him to evaluate it." She said: "He obviously just wants me to invest with him." The advice was: "Just listen to his reaction."
When she was asked the name of this venture, she replied: "Vic - Investment Center." About two months later, it was plastered across the front pages of the newspapers: people had lost millions, a significant portion of them Chareidim. What did it turn out to be? A Ponzi scheme, precisely in the mold of Madoff: recruit people and promise high returns; and from where are they paid? From the money deposited today, yesterday's investor is paid, and from the money coming in the day after tomorrow, today's investor will be paid. And when does it collapse? When everyone comes asking for their money back - and then there is nothing left, because the money for the older investors came only from the newer ones. Madoff was sentenced to some one hundred and twenty years in prison, and it was hardly clear how he would serve them all; but if they sentenced him to a century, evidently they felt they had the time to spare. Consider how absurd it all is.
One does not have to be a businessman or an investment consultant to realize that a person needs basic common sense: where could anyone possibly provide such returns? A little contemplation about earthly, material matters will save a person from harm. Time and again, such stories are heard, especially within the chareidi community, where easy money is so tempting. And the reason is simple: the husband is an avreich, the wife works, and the family barely makes ends meet. What should be done? Tell him to leave kollel? His soul yearns for Torah. So they tell him: you do not need to leave; you have a little money saved up, put it here, and a monthly salary is guaranteed. That is what the advertisements say: you sit in kollel and the money keeps rolling in. So it was with the candy vending machines, and with the water-softening machines for sixteen thousand shekels, where they install a kind of boiler in the basement - and there, too, it is built like a pyramid scheme: you buy it, and you cover the expense by bringing in a certain number of buyers, and you will not need laundry detergent or fabric softener, with all kinds of promises and savings. Poor people lost millions there. Regarding this it is said, "And I will bless you in all that you do" - as Rav Silman, who heads a beis din in Bnei Brak, speaks of so often: the blessing rests upon what you do. Do not believe in illusions, in "luftgesheft" (air-business), do not believe in effortless business and easy profits. Work, act in the ordinary, simple, and proven way; do not believe in all kinds of novel schemes for quick wealth.
Contemplation and Eternal Life
The Ralbag adds that contemplation also aids a person in the second realm: eternal life. For by contemplating a matter, one delves deeply into it, and through this arrives at the truth. How did Avraham Avinu discover his Creator? The Rambam writes, and so it appears in the Midrashim, that this wise man would wander in his thoughts and contemplate: Who created the world? If we say the sun - why does it set at night? And if the moon - why does it disappear by day? And if the clouds, and so on and so forth, until he reached the conclusion that there must be One who created them all. By what power? Contemplation, reflection, and deep thought.
Rabbi Neugroschel was once asked: Every human being was created for a purpose, and that purpose is to attain knowledge of his Creator. If so, why was a tribesman in the remote jungles of Africa created? A man who does not even have a leather loincloth, completely unenlightened in the extreme, an idolater or someone who believes in no higher power, living almost like a wild beast. What tools does he have to comprehend his Creator? He replied: Did Avraham Avinu have tools? Rather, Avraham Avinu contemplated. Granted, Avraham Avinu, whose intellectual capacity was incomparably great, attained through his contemplation a level where the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to him and spoke with him; while from that jungle dweller, only a small step forward is demanded, to the extent of his ability. To reach the realization: "I am so developed - someone must have created me; this did not come into being on its own. If to make an arrow to shoot an animal I must take wood and carve it, then someone must have carved these fingers; they did not form on their own." Even an uneducated person in the jungle can reach this conclusion. Perhaps that is the maximum demanded of him, and nothing more will be expected, because it exceeds his intellectual faculties. But wherever a person finds himself - if you were given an intellect, you must arrive at the realization that nothing here came into being on its own, and start moving forward from there. You will not necessarily reach the ultimate conclusions - that there is a Creator who made me, and who surely also gave an instruction manual, for it is inconceivable that He created a world without providing instructions for what He wants from us - but at least you have drawn closer to the recognition that the world has a Creator.
We find, then, that through the power of contemplation, one creates a better, more proper life for oneself, since in everything one does, he weighs and examines the matter; and one also attains eternal life, since through contemplation one arrives at the service of Hashem. This is the wise person - "a fountain of life", both physical and spiritual, is "the understanding of its possessor". By the power of the possessor's understanding, one attains the fountain of life.
The Ralbag: Why the Fool Learns Only Half a Lesson
In contrast, fools derive instruction only from folly. The fool acquires discipline only from folly itself, and the Ralbag elaborates on this: when something bad happens to a fool, he too begins to examine why it occurred; he too contemplates. "I tripped - where is the stone that made me fall?" But his contemplation is partial. Here is an example: someone opens a business and it fails, and among other factors, his accountant was terrible, failed to do his job properly, and did not raise the alarm in time. He then opens a new business - and what does he do? He hires a certified accountant whom he trusts one hundred percent. But notice what happened here: because he pinned all his hopes on the accountant, he paid no attention to the fact that location is also crucial for a business, nor did he conduct market research to see whether the product he is about to sell is in demand today.
Suppose you decide to open a business selling siphon gas chargers, because people at the grocery store constantly ask you whether there are siphon chargers available, and they are very hard to find nowadays. Fine, but how many people still own a seltzer siphon? You found five elderly people who badgered you with the question - is that the entire market? (For the younger generation: a siphon was a kind of carafe into which a small gas canister was inserted, twisted and pressed, producing seltzer.) He took good care of hiring a proper accountant, but he never checked whether the product is actually needed or whether the location is right. A wise man once said that three things are required for a business to succeed: the first is location, the second is location, and the third is location. As believers, we know that it depends on many other factors as well, but his point was to emphasize just how essential location really is.
This is the meaning of "the chastisement of fools is folly": because he learned only from his own folly, he reached merely partial conclusions, focusing on one single point while forgetting all the rest. "I took a blow - so I will protect myself against that." True, but there are many other ways one can suffer a blow, and he does not contemplate those at all. By contrast, the wise person, for whom intellect is the fountain of life, is equipped by his understanding and contemplation to anticipate in advance all the factors that could cause a business to succeed or fail. Even for him, success is not guaranteed, but there is proper and fitting hishtadlus (effort).
The Malbim: Understanding Clarifies the Doubts of the Fool
The Malbim explains that our verse is a direct continuation of the preceding verse:
לַחֲכַם־לֵב יִקָּרֵא נָבוֹן וּמֶתֶק שְׂפָתַיִם יֹסִיף לֶקַח׃ (משלי טז, כא) - The wise of heart is called understanding, and sweetness of the lips increases learning (Mishlei 16:21).
After stating that the wise of heart will be called discerning, Scripture explains how the wise of heart reaches a point where the laws of wisdom are so clear to him, and he identifies with them so completely, that he attains da'at regarding them - and da'at denotes complete and total identification. To this the verse says: "a fountain of life." From what source does the wise of heart draw this da'at? From the sekhel (intellect). Even though he does not grasp the laws of wisdom through the power of binah (understanding), he grasps them through the power of sekhel. Sekhel is a sharp, acute faculty within man to comprehend hidden truths, and to perceive even the laws of wisdom and spiritual matters that transcend human comprehension. Through the profound depth of the intellect, reaching beyond what ordinary contemplation would ever yield, there is a kind of illumination from on High, an inspiration through which a person penetrates to the ultimate truth.
And related to this is what is called sekhel tov (good understanding), which is ru'ach hakodesh (divine inspiration) that rests upon the wise of heart. Through it, he attains profound inquiry, understanding, and depth, until the matters are completely clear to him and he reaches full da'at. As Scripture states, "The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life," and "Good understanding grants favor": the good intellect, which is the divine inspiration that Hashem rests upon him, is a fountain of life for him, bestowing upon him grace and favor from Hashem, so that Hashem enlightens him in all matters that transcend him. Thus we see with great individuals who engaged in Torah study with great depth that the Holy One, blessed be He, granted them special gifts: the Chazon Ish never studied medicine, yet he would instruct surgeons on how to operate. From where did he know this? This is sekhel tov, the divine inspiration that rests upon the sage, where Hashem grants him favor and grace to comprehend matters far beyond natural human reach.
Through this power, the Malbim explains, he clarifies that "the chastisement of fools is foolishness." The evil (fool), as we explained, differs from the kesil: the kesil knows the truth but follows his heart's desires, whereas the evil is the doubter, the skeptical type - "Who says?", "What is the proof?", "How do you know?". Evil is related to ulai ("maybe"): he harbors all sorts of philosophical doubts, arguing that nothing is necessarily so and that nothing is truly clear. The intellect comes and clarifies the truth, proving that all the skeptic's doubts are nothing but folly and foolishness. By virtue of what? By virtue of the wisdom of the wise of heart. This is what is written: "The intellect of its possessor is a fountain of life" - and through it he admonishes the fools, proving to them that all their doubts are foolishness, empty words with no substance. By the power of the sage's intellect, he is able to expose the absurdity of the fool's arguments, showing that they contain neither truth nor substance. And what is that fountain of life? "The intellect of its possessor": that supreme spiritual faculty Hashem placed within man to comprehend and delve even into matters beyond human comprehension, which naturally he could never understand, but the Holy One, blessed be He, granted him a special power to delve into them - and also to prove to the fool that his words are mere folly devoid of any substance.
In Summary:
"The intellect of its possessor is a fountain of life, and the chastisement of fools is foolishness." Rabbeinu Yonah teaches that lust and desire distort the intellect until it becomes destructive and justifies sin; consequently, the rebuke that the fool offers others is itself wicked. The Vilna Gaon teaches that both have a "supervisor": the wise man is disciplined by his intellect in advance, while the fool is chastised by his folly after the fact, through blows and slaps, as "evil pursues sinners." Ralbag teaches that deep contemplation is a fountain of life in both material and spiritual matters alike - from evaluating a business investment to comprehending the Creator like Avraham Avinu - whereas the fool learns only a partial lesson from the blow he sustains. And the Malbim teaches that the intellect is a supreme power, a "good understanding" that Hashem rests upon the wise of heart, through which he attains full, consummate knowledge of the laws of wisdom, demonstrating to the skeptical fool that all his doubts are merely meaningless words with no reality.